In a recent statement to Brazil’s rival watchdog, Apple leaned on an increasingly familiar argument as it pushed to further open up iPhone NFC access. Here are the details.
Apple is pushing back on Brazil’s NFC push
Last year, Brazil’s central bank (Banco Central) and banking lobby group Febraban asked CADE, the country’s competition watchdog, to investigate whether Apple was unfairly restricting third-party payment providers’ access to the iPhone’s NFC compared to its own services.
In response, Apple sent CADE a list of counterarguments, including that it holds just 10% of Brazil’s smartphone market and that third-party developers have access to the iPhone’s NFC from 2024.
Apple also stated that the Brazilian market is well served by payment options, to the extent that Apple Pay “does not harm consumers or exclude competitors” and that “there is nothing in Brazilian law that prevents Apple from charging for its services”. Technoblog reported at the time.
Apple “well served with payment options” on PIX, a local, free and instant payment system launched in 2020 that is by far the most used payment method in the country.
Last year, Banco Central introduced a contactless protocol for PIX, which Apple (unlike Google) refused to adopt, seeing it as a non-essential feature for Brazilians who still rely heavily on PIX payments via QR codes rather than the relatively new contactless method.
A few days ago, Apple sent another statement to CADE that further confirmed its position.
As he states About GloboThe company’s local legal team argued that “there is a desire for third parties – specifically banks and payment service providers – to act as ‘free riders’ on Apple’s proprietary technologies without compensating Apple for the associated R&D investment and ongoing services – such as provider audits, due diligence and ongoing security monitoring of payment infrastructures.”
Additionally, they said:
“(…) these companies are interested in promoting the NFC access model, which, unlike Apple Pay and Apple Wallet, introduces frictions that may limit users’ willingness to easily switch between different payment cards by requiring them to choose a new payment solution each time they want to use a different card.”
Apple’s statement came almost exactly a month after some company representatives met with Banco Central Gilneu’s director of regulation Francisco Astolfi Vivan.
The meeting was closed to the press and no details were released beyond the fact that it will be about “regulatory issues,” according to Vivan’s official schedule for Jan. 15.
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